Theres no doubt the 450's make a ton of power and are hard to hang onto for a whole moto at full chat.
Nobody said they were a breeze to race,they're heavy and feel heavier then they are. If that's a positive thing then so be it.

Lots of people think its fun to have a light flickable racebike that feels even lighter then it is,fun to pitch em around and hold em wide open instead of perpetually torquing around like a belching tractor.
If someone ever builds a modern 450 2 stroke that's light and runs smooth and fast,it wouldnt lack for buyers.

Guys are building project race bikes sticking 500 or 250 2 strokes in modern frames,just for fun,but some neat bikes considering they are using dinosaur engines.

Shit,I remember a 125 expert buddy of mine saying the 250s and 400s were too heavy and no fun to ride back in the late 70s.

Shit,I remember a 125 expert buddy of mine saying the 250s and 400s were too heavy and no fun to ride back in the late 70s.

125's are FUN today,I just rode an 05 YZ125 and was smitten at the first corner! Light is right and those pea shooters can be tossed around like a toy,they rev like crazy but do it pretty smoothly.
Slow down for corners? Nah.

I ride an 09 200 KTM in the woods and the 125 makes it feel a little big.

Mine went 8 years, did it along with the second piston. And I raced Supermoto to a #1 plate, so not like I was putting along. I just didn't bang off the rev limiter all the time like I was on a 2 stroke. And I ran leaded gas.

8 years on one set of valves,dang the guys who race em around here go a rebuild a year,then the head is ruined at some point along with the crank,then the cases can crack on a hard ridden race 450 or 250.

RV's dad told us 2 hours is it on a SX raced 250 engine,as hard as they ride em the whole engine can be scrap cases included.

8 years is great,Honda would probably like to see that engine for study purposes. A trail riding buddy got 4 valve/ head/piston rebuilds in on a CRF250X before he threw in the towel and got a 250 KTM 2 stroke.

His son owns a Honda shop. On a busy week they have more then a few of those those 250/450CRF's lined up on the bench for re-freshening.

Haha. The 2T\4T debate is a joke. Tomac, who is incredibly fit has chosen to NOT race 450 outdoors this year, because he feels is is NOT fit enough to race them for 2 full motos. Yup, them "sissy diesels" sure are a breeze to race.

In other real news.... For the Twitter fans:

Racer X ‏@racerxonline 1h
Word is out, Davi Millsaps is going to have to get knee surgery and is out for Nationals, Ryan Sipes will take his 450 outdoors

Millsaps dosen't like the outdoors,where real racing takes place.Nice excuse.His knee looked pretty damn good last race.McGrath started supercross only contracts and as a result is a bitch in my book.Real men race two motos,OUTDOORS!

I doubt that. It's fair to say he was light years better this year than previous years and he claimed he was finally healthy. If he needs surgery and rehab time now is the time to do it. Milsapps never talked the talk and this year he walked the walk big time. He is now one of the very few riders capable of winning a 450 title in or outdoors at this point I'm thinking people don't get knee surgery out of lack of things to do.

8 years on one set of valves,dang the guys who race em around here go a rebuild a year,then the head is ruined at some point along with the crank,then the cases can crack on a hard ridden race 450 or 250.

I know, reading Thumpertalk about those CRF horror stories used to scare me! But the valves stayed in spec and it was 8 years till I ran out of thinner intake valve shims. The clutch plates lasted 8 years too, with a Rekluse autoclutch. Now I did only race Supermoto one of those years, the rest was trail riding and some track days. I really think the combo of leaded fuel and not hitting the rev limiter was the secret.

I know, reading Thumpertalk about those CRF horror stories used to scare me! But the valves stayed in spec and it was 8 years till I ran out of thinner intake valve shims. The clutch plates lasted 8 years too, with a Rekluse autoclutch. Now I did only race Supermoto one of those years, the rest was trail riding and some track days. I really think the combo of leaded fuel and not hitting the rev limiter was the secret.

Wow!!! every 13 months on the 450R valves and 3 months on the 250f's for me, Honda clutches were bullet proof